Does Turkey Need A New Political Alignment?

The people of Turkey are gearing up for radical changes in their political structure if the Constitutional Court decides to close down the Justice and Development Party(AKP) on grounds it has violated the constitution by emphasizing changes such as allowing females to wear the headscarf in universities. The Constitutional Court and high ranking military leaders remain the bastion behind guarding secular rights in their country. If the AKP is termed an illegal political organization then the Turkish political configuration must be altered. There are rumors, Abdullah Sener, one of the five founders of the Justice and Development Party is considering the possibility of creating a new center-right political party which will cooperate with secular leaders in forging a new coalition which can bring together both secular and religious leaders.

Speaking from the outside of Turkey, one notes legitimate concerns on the part of both religious and secular minded Turks. Perhaps, a mistake made by the AKP in ending the headscarf ban was failing to make clear it only dealt with the headscarf and was not the initial step in the imposition of sharia law ideas upon the population. Fears are not always based on reality, but if fears persist they must be addressed.